Disclaimer: I don't own Kuroshitsuji

"I grew up as a gang leader in London, not much to live by and not much to live for. Did all I could to stay alive, but do you want to know what the big kicker is in going through the hell in life?" Eric said as they scanned the Eastern side of the abandoned town. Structures were quaint though the air suggested otherwise. Grell rubbed and sniffled his nose as they leaped down to the lower rooftop to begin searching once more. His heel clacked against the loose shingles, causing a few or so to fall off and away. The two men glanced down at the streets, one saw the shades of the past while the other simply saw debris scattered about.

Eric lunged over a beam while Grell slipped through it with ease. "Stole and sold things just to read books."

"All that for books?" Grell huffed. "Such sentimental things...but that's what makes you guys human."

"Heh, when all you got to listen to is people dying left and right, you get used to it and it gets kinda boring. Good to have something to read." He shrugged casually as they took the lower roofs and eventually landed in the street. "Went through both areas...now for the graveyard-"

"Hold on," the redhead murmured, he approached a building that seemed to be supported by a single base, thought it was less reassuring when the door fell off its hinges. Grell slowly walked by a shade that stood by the door, Eric adjusted his glasses and saw the shade to take the form of a woman. She was dressed in a burgundy dress that lacked sleeves, the front of the helm of her skirt was split apart and sewn with laces at the edges to reveal her pale slender legs, and her chest was more than enough to gain Eric's ever so slight attention. Grell simply breezed passed her to enter the building, she gave him a rude look and glanced over at Eric with a smile.

She held a hand out to him as an offer. "A pence for pleasure?" She had her hair down though her bangs were brushed away to show the complexity of her face. She was slightly transparent but the longer Eric stared, the more she seemed physical to the touch. Eric shook his head but gave a smile in return, she suddenly approached him to be by his side. "I suppose you can see us. My name is...rather was actually...Celeste. This building was my pleasure house for the men, Baron Spears supported us unlike the others, so long as we stay by the graveyard and away from the public we were alright to have business. He was a nice patron..."

"A brothel, eh? Never thought William would be into these kind of things-"

"It was for his men," she corrected,"those who lacked wives were welcomed here."

The said brothel was in pieces, walls were desecrated, enabling Eric to make out what seemed to be beds and other rooms on the various floors. A few ravens made their home under the edge of the roof on a dresser that was left on its side, it threatened to fall if the building were disturbed. Eric imagined the establishment itself to be brightly or subtly colored but the ashes and soot lined the building, weeds grew at the front and gave it a rundown feeling. From the inside he could hear the voices of women giggling and laughing among one another, a man or so could be heard.

"We're stuck here for the rest of eternity. All we can do is repeat the same day...so boring this all is." She sighed. "If your friend isn't going to have service here, I say you should leave. It's not like we can make you though, like I said, we're stuck here. But..." She got on her tip toes and peered over, Grell was bend over, searching through the wreckage. "What's he doing there?"

"Beats me, I was told to fallow him." After a few minutes, Grell came out with a small bottle, the little cap was open and he was sniffing it with a slight smile. "You done?"

"For being three hundred years old, this perfume smells nice." Eric raised an eyebrow. "I have a nose for the exotic scents, natural to a woman."

Celeste stared at him oddly. "He can have that, not much use for us I'm afraid. Even I'm surprised it has any liquids left." Grell took a few drips and patted his neck. It smelled of the fresh forest and wild flowers, basic, but it had something that even caught Eric's interest. Grell smiled, satisfied with his find, and pocketed it. "Enjoy it."

"Dear, I can't see you but I'm guessing this was a brothel," Grell started. He looked over in Celeste's direction. "Where's the graveyard?"

"Just over the fence there, to the right," she answered, Grell walked off in that direction and Eric fallowed, saying,"I thought you couldn't see her."

"Not see...I still have my ears, you know." It was his turn to lead, Eric walked by his side with hands in his pockets and his nearly finished cigarette clutched between his teeth. The blond sighed, trying to keep himself awake. "So you were made into a reaper...so am I the only pure reaper on our team?"

Eric grunted,"Guess so. What's so special about you?"

"Easy, I was born to a prostitute. I never knew a father, only a mother. To be truthful, I was the only boy born into that line." Grell sighed. Gates were lacking in the graveyard, the only protection the dead had were the fences and overgrown grasses around their graves and entrance to their crypts. A group of ravens flying overhead came to land by the erected headstones, the black creatures clucked beaks and eyed the two reapers as if they were hawks. "If I were a woman I wouldn't have to work this hard. You know, for the women in our world, it's either work or becoming a whore. I hate that."

"It's been a big wonder why you act so much like a lady..."

"Guess all those years playing as a girl had an effect as me. I tried to be a guy, that facade worked wel in the Academy, William was easy to push around but something about him made me feel I ought to be better off as a woman. He is rather manly after all," he giggled, they walked upon some stones,"very manly...enough of me, had you ever talked to Alan?"

He shook his head. "Not yet."

The subject they were about to breach was, obviously, about Alan Humphries. Grell knew of the two having a thing or so for the other bit both had always been too shy to share it. They weren't so subtle when Grell figured they shared the same bed from time to time, but they failed to take that relationship to where it ought to be. Perhaps Eric was more concerned for Alan's health than his own pleasure, ironically it was unhealthy for Eric to worry at all. Eric scratched the back of his head.

"You can be more than companions, you know. You do love him, right?"

"Spears told me not to listen to you when you try to play match-maker..."

"Since when did you listen to Will, hnm? You sleep together! Why not sleep together?" He was being rather suggestive to him. Eric rolled his eyes with a sigh.

"Why not you retire? Everyone would be happy."

Grell fumed as they reached the center of the graveyard, a few trees grew here and there and provided them shade from the hot summer sun. The blond undid more buttons to his shirt to avoid overheating, Grell couldn't help but stare at the defined chest. "My...such a strong body you have..." Eric snorted but the grabbed Grell, roughly pushing him to a statue of an angel, he too pressed against his smaller form. "Ahn, so harsh on me-"

Eric brought an index finger to Grell's lips to shush him, then he pointed subtly towards the far left. Voices of men were heard, the sound of hooves pounding the grasses on the ground made the two reapers' hearts skip. But what was there to fear? Grell summed his chainsaw but then Eric brought a hand to clutch his wrist while shaking his head as a signal to stand down. They exchanged a quiet argument but the voices grew louder as nickers from the horses came closer.

"Lucca is died, damn it...who knew that Spears could be that brutal," said one of them, he spoke with a thick Italian accent, rough as he sounded, he seemed to be the kind to throttle someone to death with a single hand. There was a loud thud, Grell nearly jumped in his skin, Eric peeked under the angel's wing to see a body on the ground. The body was garbed in white and it seemed to be stained with blood. "...and Niccolo, he exploded...exploded! Idiot..."

A tongue clicked, it was much more lighter than the other man. "I warned him to not carry the powder with him...and what does he do? He has the powder on him!"

"Yeah, but what are the chances of a London Reaper throwing a torch? Give Niccolo a break, he's screwed in the head but not stupid! And I thought we were the barbaric ones in the Reaper Realm-"

There was a distant howl, it sounded like a wolf though it was clearly made by the throat of a man. Grell looked in the direction it came from, which was the Northern part of the town. The howl went for a few seconds before picking up once more and regaining frequency, ravens atop gravestones flapped their wings and flew towards the source of the sound while the two men grabbed the reins of their horses and rode away. Slowly, Eric released Grell, who sent away his chainsaw, and ran a hand through his hair; they observed the two riders, both wore white, or at least their capes were white. The emblem was barely seen, though Eric was quick to identify it.

His eyes grew wide with shock and he began to ran, Grell fallowed suit. "Eric! Who were they! ?"

"Who were they? You've been a reaper longer than me and you hardly know them! ?" Eric nearly shouted as they quickly sprinted, they leaped up and landed on the rooftops, they raced once more to watch up with the two riders. "That's the Vatican Division! They were the ones in the woods this morning! Shit...I don't know what they're doing here, but I doubt they're here for anything good."

-...-

It was generally quiet between the three. It was almost too intense, Ronald attempted to liven up the situation by talking about the person that they, since he failed to know, hated the most. "You know, Raoul ain't so much of a bad guy...once you get to know him. In my opinion. what he's doing to those reapers...it makes sense."

William eyed Ronald like a hawk. "Oh? What makes you say that?"

"He's just doing it to save his wife. She got sick and died of malaria in Louisiana, Raoul wanted to revive her...there was a way though, he was sorta into that voodoo stuff the slaves brought in. He got more into it when he went to their Everto. Now, the sick part of him was that he began to collect bodies of different species, I personally thought they never existed until I saw them, but they're there. He tried vampires, demons, you name it, but they all came out wrong to him."

"Why was he gathering body parts in the first place?" Alan asked, Ronald turned and smiled.

"Souls can Switch bodies. Raoul still has his wife's soul...nothing could hold her soul very long so he decided he could create the perfect body himself by using parts of reapers. We're immortal, right? And we're practically indestructible...especially the London Division. Think of it, twenty years of research and he's finally found a good group of reapers to experiment with!"

He threw his arms in the air to emphasize his statement. "And today's the day he finally gets what he's been working for, can't you be happy? !" Ronald suddenly looked sullen and he frowned. "Of course...Ivan's in the way of it, the bastard's trying to get Samantha, she's the one that had her body parts changed to be a reaper. I guess the only thing human left of her is her soul, she's nothing more than a shell though...Knox done her in...all she needs left is a Raoul's darling's soul and she'll be alive again."

William's brow furrowed and his death scythe shot out towards Ronald, he barely missed the boy's ear but any more to the right and he would have performed a lobotomy. Ronald had his hands up in defense, even Alan had his death scythe at the ready. They cornered Ronald at the wall.

"You're Raoul Sylvestre, aren't you? !"

Ronald grinned wildly. "It took you that long? Man, you must be the most stupidest reapers I've ever known!"

"I assure you, I'm not the least bit stupid. You don't babble on about your plan to the enemy's allies. And I thought Ronald was the blond in this team-"

"Speaking of the boy, if you damage this body to extract my soul, you run the risk of never having Knox's soul returned to its former body. You see, when I perform my Switches with souls on other reapers, both bodies need to be in good shape...any serious mutilation and, well, the body is sort of useless." Ronald ran a hand on the cool steel pole of William's death scythe. "So I suggest you let me go or else you'll never have Knox back, ever. But I doubt he would last much longer in my old one, it's loss quite a lot of blood, it even has an arm missing..."

"Aren't you a son of a bitch," Alan growled, grip tightening on his death scythe. Before William could speak, a howl rang though the town, heads turned and Ronald took the chance to slip away from their grasp. "Spears!"

"Get after him! Don't stop for anything!" The older reaper barked, taking off to run with for Ronald with his scythe extended at his side. The blond made it across a street and into an ally, William made a made dash ahead with Alan right behind him.

There was a shrill shriek in the air. It sounded like Grell.

"WILLIAM!"

William turned his head too late to see the broad chests of a pair of horses slam strait into him sending him flying to the side with Alan sliding to a halt that was just inches away from the kicking legs of the riders that galloped by. A streak of silver shot through his vision, then the whole thing was a blur.

Alan was too shaken by what he saw, a blaze of red, unidentifiable to be hair or blood, burst in front of him while a pair of strong arms wrapped around his waist to pull him back and away from William, who was still standing in place, unmoving. He saw a pair of shears protrude from William's shoulder. No way could that have happened. Alan dreaded the worse when his eyes fallowed the pole's length; the silver disappeared into his chest but then reappeared from between his ribs. His fear was confirmed when he saw that William had managed to impale himself.

Red hair and red blood mixed with one another, causing the entire scene was a blur to him, but one thing was for sure when he looked at the alley ahead of him; he allowed Ronald to escape.

But Ronald was the least of his, or anyone's, concern now. Strips of light burst forth for either wounds and began to play before everyone's eyes. Screams from the shades and Grell intermingled and their differences were impossible to distinguish. Alan saw the redhead take hand of the pruning tool and pull it out of William's body, he tossed it aside and brought William down to lay on the ground. Blood spurted from William's mouth as he began to gag on the liquids, how Grell and Eric were spontaneously there was a blessing to Alan. Then again, how would they be of any help?

"Stay here!" Eric firmly instructed Alan as he left his grasp, he fell to his knees by William and Grell. The redheaded man had his hands over the wounds created by the sheers but Eric suddenly shoved him away with his broad saw drawn out, a large hand took a hand of the base in which the Cinematic Records were forming around and readied to slice the memories from one another. "Fuck..."

"Eric, what're you doing! ?" He shouted, he tried to swat away Eric's hands but the blond immediately clutched his wrist and held it still while looking strait into his dull eyes.

"Be quiet, I know what I'm doing! It's the only fucking way to save him! Rush me and I'll Rip off some of the memories he needs!"

When Eric began to examine the film, Grell whimpered and looked down at William, the man's eyes were closed and his breathing had suddenly stopped. Tears swelled up in his own eyes, he swore that he could see his soul beginning to emerge from the Cinematic Records. Grell looked away and up at the strips of film that fluttered overhead, teeth grinding against his teeth and even opening to bite his lips until they bled. Grell unconsciously reached for the soul but then Eric slapped him in the face to show his seriousness.

"Alan, get Grell away from here!" Eric yelled, the brunette was quick and streaked over to Grell, he wrapped an arm around Grell and began to drag him away from the scene. The younger reaper was small but housed surprising strength, Grell fought against it; he was successful but felt a pair of arms snake around his waist, Grell whirled around to check if it were Alan, he was ready to hit him across the face until he saw the owner of those arms. "ALAN!"

"ERIC!"

The man wore a mask over his face, it was adorned with jewels and feathers and the nose was so long, it represented a bird. Grell could clearly smell ale from the man's heavy breaths, he seemed almost too intimidating. A chainsaw materialized in his hand but was suddenly kicked out of his hand. Grell trembled with fear and anger, he recognized him as one of the riders that ran William over. But what was he to use to fight him? The masked man growled when Grell kicked him at his shin.

Nearby, he saw Alan being dragged away as well by a man wearing a similar mask, Grell's eyes grew wide when a hand was brought to the back of Alan's neck to render him unconscious. He fought to be free once more as they rounded a corner. Out of nowhere, more masked men came from the shadows, Grell kicked once more and turned his head with his mouth wide open, his sharp teeth embedded themselves into the man's forearm.

A howl raged through the mask and the others drawn swords. They were ready to strike Grell all at once until a commanding voice rang out amongst the chaos,"Enough of it, all of you! Turn down your weapons or I'll repeat the Milanese Massacre once more!"

The men instantly sheathed their weapons and began to step back, even the one who clutched Grell so tightly dropped him roughly to the ground. Growls resonated from the men as Grell glanced around, tears streaming down his bruised cheek, and saw Undertaker emerging from the crowd, men shuffled away from him to give him space. He smiled wildly to Grell and offered a hand to him.

"What a down right mess this became, wasn't expecting any of this to happen, eh? Good thing I got here too, else it would've been worse!"

"Worse? !" Grell barked at him. "Worse, you say? ! William's dying and you say it could be worse? !"

Undertaker's smirk disappeared. "...now that's the worse right there."

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