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"Undertaker...I offer your position once more as Sir Undertaker of the Council of the London Division. With Sir Richardson and the others gone, I doubt Evans and I will be able to handle the Division. I'm far too inexperienced. This Division needs a leader before we fall apart, how long can those angels of Ivan continue to reap souls for us? We'll go further into debt to him-"

Undertaker's nails dug into the wooden banister of the railing. He watched as the office and market districts return to their former states at a quick pace. "He'll in debt with us if he survives, we pay each other off this way," Undertaker murmured, Kris nodded and went to his side. The elder reaper looked down at him and then back at the setting sun. "...whatever Richardson had with his policies here, enforce them. I will take up the position until the Council is restored."

Kris nodded and extended his hand, a bundle of neatly folded clothes and a pair of shoes fell into his awaiting hand and he handed it to him. "...your brother's uniform...it is an extra but his will says that I give it to you should anything happen." Undertaker didn't bother to look at it. "But I can have a custom uniform made for you if you wish."

"...I don't want to deal with that yet."

And then Evans' voice protested,"But Sir-"

"Don't call me that!" Undertaker snapped, he turned around to see Evans standing by the oak wood desk. The pepper haired man was the most stagnant of the Council, he carried himself with high prestige, nose up and yet his eyes would be aware of his surroundings, calculating so with such precision that it would allow him to reap with his eyes closed. For being a simply historian and record keeper of the London Division's Library, he, unlike anyone of the Council, was rarely one to enter the Human Realm.

In the past, he was one of Undertaker's best students. He showed so much potential but aimed it towards pushing papers and searching archives instead; in all honesty, Undertaker thought he would have done better at reaping. If he were to reap as often as he were supposed to, his hair would have gone completely silver by now but the lack of soul collecting and he would have been dubbed a full-fledged Elder. Then again, it was his choice to stay put in the offices and The Hall.

Evans was a polite man and only spoke when spoken to or, in most cases, when he hears something he strongly disagrees with. He was a law abiding reaper and enforced the rules, after all, out of everyone in the Council, he was the one who dealt with the London Division's reapers personally. "Undertaker, you need to set an example if you decide to take position as Head then you must wear the proper attire. Dressed as a mortician...well, it would sort of be a slap in the face for Society should you meet with the Grand Master of Ivan's angels...already, their leader asks for a meeting with someone of authority. I doubt I would be acceptable."

"Have them meet with Executioner, he knows the arrangements, I spoke earlier to him...and since when did angels have the task of collecting souls?" Undertaker asked, Evens opened a notebook as Kris left the room to attend to the angels.

"Worry not, Undertaker.." He cleared his throat. "It began a few days ago, after you returned to the Library. A group of these...Sword Dancers, I believe, came with a parchment written by Sir Ivan. It stated that he will take care of the soul collections around England and ensure the protection of our Library from further damage from Raoul. Of course, the only thing that the man asks for is the right to reap the soul of Raoul Sylvestre for himself. Speaking so, the man heads for Wilshires...why so?"

"Heather reported that as the last place she had seen both Ronald Knox and Raoul...it is very likely that he would still be there. With the wound I gave him...I doubt he would last much longer. But the fact that he has the ability to extract souls and swap them to another body, there is a possibility that there was a reason for taking Ronald with him...I don't know what though...hnm..."

With the information laid out before Evans, the peppered reaper exclaimed,"You don't say...perhaps that Sylvestre exchanged souls with Knox? ! Undertaker, if Sir Ivan were to find Sylvestre and the souls had been changed without anyone knowing, it would be a rather disastrous! A mutilated body is not strong enough to hold the soul of a god!"

Undertaker perked up at the statement. "Evans, you survived being William's partner years ago...I condone you for that. At first I thought it was dumb-luck that saved you but I suppose it would be your wits that done you over a thousand times. To ever think of such a possibility! Take me to where William's Cinematic Record is stored right now, I'll head to Wilshires myself...it's too late to call back the Vatican Division now-"

"You called the Vatican Division? !" Evans shouted as he and Undertaker rushed out of the highest office in the Library. The silver reaper pushed the button impatiently for the elevator to take them. As a ding came from the bell in the lift, Evans was in a frantic mood. "Why the hell would you order them to go to Wilshires? ! I know you're a bit loony but mental? That's asking for a massacre! And that town is nowhere near a population to begin with!"

"Ensure extra protection for William's team should anything happen, but even if I were there I would be unable to destroy whatever is left of the place. The Vatican Division are experts in demolishing places so I thought it would be a nice touch. Besides, those poor souls are bound to a place like that, without it they would be ready to reap." The golden gates opened and they immediately stepped in and the gates closed. "Of course...they are much more precise at handling souls than we are, they are much more advanced than this Division really. Should Ronald's soul be in any great danger, they wouldn't hesitate to attack anybody.

"I gave them the order to eliminate anyone that threatens William or his team. Mistakes in identifying souls is a high probability. I fear they would attack Raoul, thus breaking the deal that apparently Kris had made with Ivan and his angels without me knowing. Funny how fate will play out in this."

Evans nodded vigorously. "I suppose so, Undertaker..."

"I failed to stop fate twice...I hope this won't be the third time...ironic it is being a God and all."

Undertaker was ahead of him, Evans craned his neck to peek over at the other man's expression. Out of habit of being with Richardson, the forsaken word slipped out of his tongue,"Sir?"

But there was no answer, and the elevator had stopped on the third floor. The two clambered out and Evans didn't dare to question Undertaker's vague words. He lead the elder reaper around a hallway, striding pass several reapers that were busy realigning books to their shelves. "You!" They paused in their work to stare at them. "Where is Spears' Cinematic Record?"

"Saw it sittin' at that desk down the fifth aisle, Sir!" The first reaper answered, Undertaker walked ahead with Evans at his heels. They rounded a corner and found the large book sitting in the exact same spot where Alan Humphries had fallen asleep at. The book was wide open and growing thicker with each passing moment, the mortician rushed to it, a Death Bookmark and Death Pen at either hand. Evans watched in awe at the two legendary items, it was rare to see them at work.

"You don't mean to change everything right now, do you?"

"I'm only going to get myself there," he murmured, flipping through the pages until he came across a blank one. He wedged the pink and black bookmark into the spine and the words suddenly stopped. Undertaker smiled to himself and then looked at Evans. "The minute I'm gone, pull the Bookmark out, alright? I used too much energy for Shadow Water so this is the only thing that will send me to Wilshires quickly enough..." The soon to be Elder stared at his former mentor as he watched him scribble words on the blank page. When the pen was lifted off the page, Undertaker faded away into its pages.

-...-

"Ronald?" Grell asked once more, the blond groaned with a dry throat and gulped more water down once more. When he was done, he lifted and waved a hand to show William he wanted to stop. The older reaper took the canteen away and corked it as Ronald slowly made his way to sit up. He grabbed a tuft of hair and ran his fingers through it, eyes were barely focused ahead of him, Grell placed a hand to his cheek. "Ronnie?"

Ronald finally looked at him with a confused stare, then something in him snapped and he gave a faint smile of recognition. "Grell..."

And he was pulled into a hug with the redheaded reaper squealing,"You're alright! I thought you were dead but you're alright!"

"Uh-huh, yeah, please don't shake me," Ronald pleaded but Grell failed to stop. William sighed and stood up, he strode over to Ivan and handed him the canteen. Ivan took the container and the two exchanged a curt exchange in words as the American took out his pipe to smoke leisurely. At the same time, Eric, with a cigarette pursed between his lips, reached over for a box of matches left sitting by the man and lit a stick. "Um, Grell, I'm getting dizzy!"

Among Ronald's whines, Ivan blew tobacco into William's face growling in a low voice,"You got the boy right here at you're feet. I'm asking for my money...without Undertaker here, I doubt any of you will be after Raoul's skin if we find him here so I suggest stepping down from where you are. I know this is your turf and all but it ain't gonna be fun when I start dancin' with that son of a bitch and you decide to get in the way for the sake of your family name or some other prideful shit."

"I understand that." William nodded but was glaring at him. "Grell was never one to be specific so I feared going to Wilshires was very useless to begin with up until we found Knox. Obviously he wouldn't have found a way here so finding him here, of all places, is not coincidental. I want to conclude this is a trap set by Sylvestre." Ronald immediately stopped his cries at the sound of the suspicion. "I'm not going to risk my team here."

"So you're saying you want to leave? Go ahead, just be careful of the wolves in the wood. I can take care of this myself. Forget about the money, I just want the blood spilled. You two," he addressed Alan and Eric,"get out." Alan nodded but checked his leg, he prodded the wound to find that it didn't hurt so he managed to hop out of the cart with ease. Eric fallowed suit as Ivan snapped the reins and he drove down the barren street on his own with the intent of searching for the wanted man.

"Great, we lost our ride home, way to go Spears," Eric chuckled, William summoned his scythe and the smug look on Eric's face faded away,"I mean...you sure told him, huh?"

Alan shook his head to tell him to stop talking. Slowly, he stammered,"Um..uh, Mr. Spears...h-how are we supposed to leave?"

"We'll just wait for him to come back," he answered with a shrug, Ronald nearly shouted,"You mean you came all this way to rescue me and you go off and piss off the driver! ? That's so gonna get us back!"

"Rescuing you was the last intent but now we can say that was a goal." William seemed less concerned for Ivan hen he turned to stare at Ronald, the blond sunk into the dirt and Grell's hold. Then his eyes fell upon Grell. "What was the point of us coming here? You told me that this would be the last place Sylvestre would be, but with Knox here it means otherwise. I think he's here, in honesty, I can sense him, as can Ivan. I'm sure that he will return to us, he is simply anxious to kill him as soon as possible...I know that we barely had time to rest but bear with me on this..."

William adjusted his glasses to perfection and adjusted his tie. "We will find Raoul Sylvestre and bring him to Ivan, it's the only reasonable payment for having him bring us here. Eric and Grell, you two will cover the East and South sides of the town, along with the graveyard. Alan, Ronald, and I will take care of the North and West parts. When you do find him, shout as loud as you can, I'll be able to hear you, understood?"

As loyal as they were to William, they all nodded.

"Take your leaves-"

"W-wait! Will~!" Grell said as he got up, he threw his arms around William's neck and brought him down to a kiss. Everyone watched, surprised at his boldness, and looked away to give them privacy. William immediately complied to the sudden surprise and kissed back slowly before pulling away. "Be safe, will you, love?" William gave a slight, just a tiny, smile. It was small but genuine, Grell gave a peck on the lips before ripping away and then grabbing Eric's wrist to pull him towards town. "Tata~!"

"Ngh, Sutcliff!" Eric howled as he was dragged away, Alan gave a nervous laugh and looked at William, he spoke when the duo were out of earshot. The superior had his eyes set on Ronald, he seemed to be glaring at him the same way he did to Ivan.

Ronald quietly got to his feet and eyed William coolly, unfazed but showing just a bit of fear by shuffling his feet. "...anything wrong, Mr. Spears?" He asked calmly.

"...no...nothing at all," William replied distantly, he turned and walked ahead of them in a direction that was opposite of Grell's,"but Alan Humphries..."

"Yes sir?" Alan and Ronald quickly scrambled to be at his side. The sun shined behind their backs from the hills and was warming their backs from the cool night. William glanced over to Alan, squinting slightly from the glare of the sun, and said,"You should have said your farewell to Slingby."

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